Electric shaver with vibratory shaving unit



April 20, 1954 w HATF|ELD 2,675,614

ELECTRIC SHAVER WITH VIBRATORY SHAVING UNIT Filed June 30, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR I BYK/ Z7 :fi-7- A ORNEY April 20, 1954 w. F. HATFIELD 2,675,6h4

ELECTRIC SHAVER WITH VIBRATORY SHAVING UNIT Filed June 50, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WaZZarFHa Z/z'eZcZ ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 20, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRIC SHAVER WITH VIBRATO'RY SHAVING UNIT 8 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a novel construction of electric shaver or razor including a housing carry ng a perforated comb or guard and the shaving blade, which housing is vibrated or oscillated as the blade oscillates beneath the comb or guard to thereby effect a more efficient shaving operation.

More particularly, it is an aim of the invention to provide an electric razor of extremely simple construction wherein the comb or guard and the housing which supports said parts are rapidly oscillated in the opposite direction to the direction of oscillating motion of the blade so that the rapid vibratory motion of the comb or guard presents th comb at different angles to the face as the blade is oscillated to insure an effective cutting of all the hairs as the comb passes over the skin of the face, due to the presentation of the perforations of the comb at a multiplicity of slightly varyin angles to the portion of the face being engaged thereby, and so that all of the perforations will assume positions to receive the hairs protruding from the skin and which are disposed at different angles to most effectively accomplish a clean and smooth shave, which is diflicult of accomplishment where the comb or guard is stationary and th angle thereof is not varied relatively to the plane of the skin surface being shaved.

Still another object of the invention is toprovide a unique construction whereby the blade is supported for oscillation within a head including the comb or guard and for oscillating motion with said head as well as relatively thereto.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a novel means of mounting the head and for imparting oscillating motion thereto in a, direction opposite to the direction of swinging movement of the blade.

A further object of the invention is to provide an electric razor having the aforedescribed novel characteristics which may be very economically manufactured and sold, which will be composed of a minimum of parts and which will be extremely efficient and durable for accomplishing its intended purpose.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings, illustrating a presently preferred em,- bodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view, partly in section, of an electric shaver constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the upper portion of the shaver taken at right angles to Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the upper portion of the shaver taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a View taken on the same plane as Figure 3 showing one extremity of the rocking movement of the shaver head, certain of the parts as illustrated in Figure 3 being omitted;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view of the shaver taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 6-5 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a transverse sectional View showing the housing removed from the shaver, and

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by. the line 8-8 of Figure 5.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the novel electric shaver in its entirety is designated generally I9 and includes a casing ll containing an electric motor l2 to which current is supplied in a conventional manner through an electric cord l3 which extends into the casing through its lower end I4. The upper end of the casing I l is provided with a substantially fiat end wall surface l5, and said casing has corresponding side wall extensions It, as best illustrated in Figure 5, which project beyond its end surface l5. The casing II is provided with a longitudinally extending bore ll one end of which communicates with the cavity thereof containing the electric motor 12 and the other end of which opens through its end surface [5. A bushing or bearing it of the electric motor 12 extends into the bore 17 and the armature shaft [9 of the electric motor which is journalled in said bushing it projects therefrom through the upper portion of the bore l1 and to beyond the surface I5. A flywheel 20 is fixed to the armature shaft i9 and is disposed just beyond the end surface l5 of th casing II. A crankpin 2| is eccentrically fixed to the outer surface of the flywheel 20 adjacent a portion of the periphery thereof and projects therefrom at an angle toward the axis of the shaft iii.

A vibrating shaver head, designated generally 22, includes a housing, designated generally 23, having a bottom 24, end Walls 25 and side walls 26. Th bottom 24 hasan under surface 2? which is inclined downwardly and inwardly from theside walls 25' and merges intermediate of said side walls to define a downwardly facing rib 28 extending from end-to-end of the housing 23 between its end walls 25 and which is disposed intermediate of the side walls 25. The housing bottom 24 is provided with a central opening 29 in which th flywheel is loosely received when the rib 28 is supported for rocking movement on the casing surface l5, as illustrated in Figures 3. 4 and 5.

The end walls 25 extend substantially above the level of the upper edges of the side walls 26 and have substantially semi-circular upper portions 30 which are disposed substantially eccentric to inwardly flanged openings or bearings 3! of the end walls 25, each of which contains a bushing 32.

The head 22 includes a perforated comb or guard 33 of a conventional construction which is concavo-convex in cross section, as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. End portions of the comb or guard 33 rest upon the arcuate upper portions 30 of the end walls 25 and side edges of the comb 33 rest upon the upper edges of the side walls 26, as illustrated in Figures 3, 4 and 5, so that the comb or guard 33 combines with the housing 23 to form the head 22 which constitutes a hollow chamber or cavity.

The side walls 26 of the housing 23 have outwardly projecting apertured cars 35 which align with inwardly extending apertured ears 35 of latch plates 36 which are mounted outwardly of the side walls 25. Hinge pins 31 extend through the aligned apertures of the ears 35 and 35 for pivotally mounting the latch plates 33 on the side walls 25, intermediate of the upper and lower end or edges of said latch plates. The latch plates 35, which are of conventional construction, are provided with inturned upper portions having inwardly projecting teats or extensions 38 which fit into openings 39, adjacent the side edges of the comb or guard 33, to latch the comb or guard on the open top of the housing 23. Each hinge pin 37 carries a spring 53, the depending legs of which are spring biased away from one another and bear against the side wall 28 and the lower portion of the latch plate 33, for urging the upper portions of said latch plates inwardly to retain the teats or projections 38 releasably in engagement with the comb openings 39. The upper portion of the casing H at opposite sides thereof is provided with recesses the inward swinging movement of the lower ends of said plates for disengaging the projections 38 from the comb openings 39.

The housing bottom 23 adjacent to opposite corners thereof is provided with elongated slots 42 which extend parallel to the housing end walls 25, as best seen in Figure 8. Headed screw fastening 43 are detachably anchored in the upper portion of the casing H and extend upwardly therefrom through the surface i5 and loosely through the slots 42, as best seen in Figure 8, and the heads 44 of said fastenings 43 are disposed within the housing 23, above and spaced from the bottom 24, for loosely connecting the head 22 to the upper end of the casing H.

A shaft 45 extends longitudinally through the housing 23 and is journalled at its ends in the bushings 32 of the bearings 3|. A blade holder 46 has an intermediate portion 41 through which the shaft 45 extends and which may be journalled on said shaft or keyed thereto. as by a key 48. The blade holder 43 has a slotted upper end 49, the slot 50 of which accommodates a conventional blade 5| therein. The slotted end 55 may be provided with a notch 52 on one side thereof to accommodate a pin 53 projecting from one side of the blade 5| to prevent the blade 5| from rocking in the slot 50 or sliding longitudinally of said slot toward either of the end walls 25. The sharpened cutting edge 56 of the blade 5|, which is disposed outwardly of the upper blade holder end 49, is provided with notches 55 for accommodating and slidably engaging transversely extending arcuate ribs 55 which are formed on the inner side of the comb 33 between the perforations 51 thereof and which likewise prevent sliding movement of the blade 5! longitudinally of the head 22 or rocking movement of said blade relatively to the blade holder 43. The upper portion 49 of the blade holder 43 has one or more expansion springs 53 recessed therein and extending into the slot 53 and bearing against the inner or back edge of the blade 5| for urging said blade outwardly of the slot 50 to yieldably retain the cutting edge 54 of the blade substantially in contact with the concave inner surface of the comb or guard 33.

The opposite, lower end of the blade holder 16 extends from its intermediate portion 41 toward the housing bottom 24 and said bottom portion 59 is slotted from end-to-end thereof, as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 and has a restricted downwardly opening slotted bottom portion in which the crank pin 2| is loosely accommodated, as illustrated in Figures 3, 4 and 5. The portion 59 is illustrated as forming an integral part of the blade holder 43. However, said portion 59 could constitute a separate part fixed to the shaft 45 adjacent the two bearings 3i by spaced arms extending radially from said shaft, and the slotted portion could be formed by spaced parallel bars connected to the lower ends of said arms.

The head 22 fits loosely between the casing walls It for rocking movement of the head relatively to the casing I I. Assuming that the shaver i fully assembled, as illustrated in the drawings, Figures 1 to 6, When the motor I2 is energized its armature shaft [9 will be rotated at a high rate of speed of the order of 7,000 R. P. M. As the flywheel 20 turns with the shaft la in a clockwise direction, for example, from its position of Figures 3, 5 and 6 to its position of Figure 4, through an arc of approximately the crank pin 2| will exert a lateral thrust from right to left on the lower blade holder portion 59, as seen in Figure 3 and l, for rocking the blade holder 48 about the axis of the shaft 45 from its position of Figure 3 to its position of Figure 4 to thereby cause the upper blade holder portion 59 and the blade 5| to swing to the right or clockwise from its intermediate position of Figure 3 to its position of Figure 4. When the blade holder 55 is in its intermediate position of Figure 3, upright with respect to the axis of the casing II, the head 22 will likewise be disposed in an upright position with its ridge 28 resting on the casing surface l5. However, when the blades holder 46 is rocked'clockwise from its position of Figure 3 to its position of Figure 4 by movement of the crank pin 2! to the left, a lateral thrust will be exerted to the left on the head 22 from the crank pin 2! through the lower portion 59 of the blade holder 45 to the shaft 45 which will tend to displace said shaft to the left causing the head 22 to rock counterclockwise from its position of Figure 3 to its position of Figure 4 about its rib 28 which fulcrums" on the casing surface i5, Consequently, the head 22 will be rocked by the-crank pin 2| in the opposite direction to the direction of rocking or oscillating movement of the blade holder 46 and blade 51. As the crank pin 2| continues past its position of Figure l through a further arc of 90-", the parts will resume their positions of Figure 3, after which the blade holder and blade will continue toswing counterclockwise to the left of their positions of Figure 3 and the head 22 will continue to rock clockwise on its rib 28 past its upright position of Figure 3 and to a position to the right thereof. Thus, the blade 5l= oscillates to and fro within the head 22 and likewise oscillates to and fro with the head 22 relatively to the casing H, the oscillating movement of the blade within the head beingin the opposite direction to the simultaneous oscillating movement of the blade with the head. Thus, the comb 33 oscillates rapidly relatively to the skin surface, not shown, being shaved to present the perforations 51 thereof at various angles to the skin surface to insure. that individual hairs projecting at various angles from the skin surface will enter the perforations 57 which assume positions opposed thereto muchmore readily than if said comb 33 was stationary and maintained at the same angle relatively to the skin surface. It should be borne in min-cl that the head 22 including the comb 33 oscillate at a speed equal to that of the oscillating motion of the blade 51 and which is at such a rapid rate that it can only be viewed as an extremely rapid vibration of the entire head 22 relatively to the casing ll.

It will thus be seen that an electric razor of extremely simple construction has been provided wherein a maximum shaving eiiiciency will be accomplished due to oscillating motion of the comb opposite to the direction of oscillating motion of the blade for presenting the perforations of the comb at various angles to the plane of the skin being shaved to assure that all the hairs projecting from the skin surface will be received through the comb apertures to be cut by the blade edge =54. It will be understood that the parts are considerably enlarged in the drawings as compared with their actual sizes and the thickness of certain of the parts such as the comb 33 is greatly exaggerated.

Variou modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A vibrating electric shaver comprising an electric motor casing having an end surface, a driven motor shaft extending through said end surface and disposed at substantially a, right angle thereto, a flywheel fixed to the motor shaft having a crank pin eccentrically fixed to an outer side of the flywheel adjacent its periphery and inclined outwardly and toward the axis of the motor shaft, a head including a housing having a bottom and end walls extending outwardly from said bottom, the underside of said bottom having a rib disposed intermediate of its side edges extending between said end walls and resting on the end surface of the casing, said bottom having a central opening in which said flywheel i loosely disposed, fastening means loosely connecting the housing bottom to the casing for oscillating movement of the housing on said casing end surface, a shaft extending between'and supported by said end walls, a. blade holder mounted on said shaft including an outer end and an inner end each projecting radially from the shaft, a blade detachably mounted in and projecting from the outer end of said blade holder, the inner end of said blade holder having an elongated slot disposed parallel to the axis of the shaft in which said crank pin is'loosely engagedwhereby said blade holder is oscillated about the axis of the shaft and relatively to the head when the flywheel is rotated, saidhead having an outer open end, and a comb mounted on and closing the open end of the: housing and forming a part of said head, said comb being arcu-ate in cross section and being perforated and having a concave inner side adjacent to which the outer cutting edge of the blade is disposed.

An electric shaver as in. claim 1, said rib fulcruming on the endv surface of the casing whereby said shaft swings. with the head back and forth across the axi of the motor shaft, the underside of said housing bottom being in.- clined upwardly and away from said rib toward each of the side edges of the housing bottom.

If 3....Ihe combination with an electric shaver casing having a rotary driven motor shaft projecting outwardly from a flat. end surface of said casing and disposed with. its axis at a right angle to said end surface, a flywheel fixed to. said shaft having eccentric crank pin projecting from an outer side of the flywheel adjacent its periphery at an angle toward the. axis of the. driven shaft, of a head comprising a. housing and comb mounted for oscillating movement on said end surface of the casing, said comb defining the outer portion of said head and being of arcuate shape in cross section and having a concave inner side and a convex outer side, a blade holder pivotally mounted intermediate of its ends in said head about an axis disposed at a right angle to the motor shaft and axially of the comb, said blade holder including a slotted outer portion extending outwardly toward the comb, a blade mounted therein having an outer cutting edge disposed adjacent the inner side of the comb and longitudinally thereof for oscillating movement in a path disposed concentrically of the comb, said blade holder including an inner portion extending inwardly from the pivot of the blade holder having an elongated slotted inner end extending parallel to the axis of the pivot of the blade holder and loosely accommodating said crank pin for sliding and turning movement therein whereby the blade holder is oscillated about its pivot by rotation of the crank pin and flywheel, said housing having a bottom portion provided with a central opening for loosely accommodating the flywheel, fastening means loosely connecting the housing to the casing, the underside of said housing bottom portion having a depending rib disposed centrally thereof and parallel to the axis of the blade holder pivot, said rib fulcruming on said end surface of the casing whereby said housing is rocked on the casing by rotation of the flywheel and in the opposite direction to the direction of swinging movement of the blade by the lateral thrust imparted. to the pivot of the blade holder by movement of the crank pin in either direction laterally of the blade holder pivot and said rib.

4. An electric shaver as in claim 3, said bottom being provided with elongated slots adjacent opposite corners thereof disposed at right angles to the rib, and headed fastenings extending loosely through said slots and anchored in the casing and projecting from said end surface thereof, said slots and headed fastenings combining to form said fastening means, and said headed fastenings having heads larger than the width of said slots and disposed within the housing for loosely connecting the housing to the casing.

5. An electric shaver as in claim 3, and means for detachably mounting the comb on the housing including spring urged latch members pivotally mounted on the housing and externally thereof and detachably engaging said comb adjacent side edge portions thereof.

6. An electric shaver as in claim 3, the underside of said housing bottom having inclined surfaces extending outwardly and upwardly from said rib toward opposite sides of the housing disposed parallel to the rib.

'7. In an electric shaver, the combination with a motor casing having an end surface, a rotary driven motor shaft extending through said end surface and disposed with its axis at substantially a right angle thereto, a flywheel fixed to said motor shaft having an eccentric crank pin projecting from an outer side thereof adjacent the flywheel periphery at an angle toward the axis of the motor shaft, a blade holder pivotally mounted for oscillating movement about an axis disposed at a right angle to the motor shaft and spaced outwardly therefrom, said blade holder having an inner portion extending inwardly from its pivot including an elongated inwardly opening slot disposed parallel to said pivot in which the crank pin is loosely disposed for causing the blade holder to oscillate about its pivot when the flywheel and crank pin are revolved, a blade mounted in said blade holder outwardly of the blade holder pivot, a comb, said comb being concavo-convex in cross section and disposed ooncentrically of the blade holder pivot, said blade having a cutting edge disposed adjacent the inner concave side of the blade holder for oscillating motion relatively thereto; of a housing in which said blade holder is pivotally supported having an open outer portion on which said comb is mounted, said housing having a bottom provided with a relatively large opening loosely accommodating said flywheel and having a centrally disposed rib on its underside disposed parallel to the axis of the blade holder pivot and fulcruming on said end surface of the casing whereby the blade holder is oscillated in the housing by rotation of the crank pin and said housing is caused to oscillate on the casing in the opposite direction to the direction of swinging movement of the blade, and fastening means loosely connecting the housing to the casing.

8. An electric shaver as in claim 7, said fastening means loosely engaging said housing bottom and being anchored to the casing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,331,500 Rand Oct. 12, 1943 2,342,467 Hagopian Feb. 22, 1944 2,555,621 Williamson et al. Jan. 5, 1951 

